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In re T. M. G.

A 6-year-old's foster parents are not collaterally estopped from seeking to adopt him since they were neither parties nor privies to a separate adoption case involving the biological mother's surrender of her parental rights to an Alabama couple.

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This Court granted certiorari to review the Court of Appeals’ ruling that appellants are collaterally estopped from seeking to adopt TMG, because appellants “acted and were treated as parties” in appellees’ earlier adoption proceeding.1 This Court, however, has previously held that appellants were not parties to appellees’ adoption proceeding. Moreover, the issue to be decided in appellants’ current action was neither directly nor implicitly decided in the appellees’ previous action. It follows that appellants were not collaterally estopped from pursuing their own adoption proceeding. Therefore, we reverse.

In 1996, when TMG was two months old, he was placed by the Georgia Department of Human Resources “DHR” in foster care with appellants, the Edmondsons, who are residents of Brooks County, Georgia. TMG has remained with the Edmondsons to the present day. In 1997, appellees the Strohs, an Alabama couple, obtained TMG’s mother’s surrender of her parental rights in their favor. The Strohs then instituted proceedings in Echols County, Georgia, seeking to adopt TMG. The Strohs also sought to take custody of TMG. DHR, which was at that time in the midst of terminating TMG’s mother’s parental rights, intervened in the Strohs’ action. The Edmondsons filed their own adoption proceeding in Echols County and moved to consolidate it with the Strohs. Both adoption petitions were denied—the Strohs’ because they are Alabama residents and the Edmondsons’ due to procedural defects. The consolidation motion was then dismissed as moot.

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